Wire coiling apparatus



Aug. 16, 1960 w. J. MANSON 2,949,250

WIRE COILING APPARATUS Filed July 2. 1958 ifi n INVENTOR. WA( 75e' JJM/MWA BY ML/MMM Armi/vnr WIRE COILINGVAPBARATUS Walter J. Manson, South Bend, Ind., assignor to National- Standard Company, Niles, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 2, 1958, Ser. No. 746,179

2 Claims. (Cl. 242-83) This invention relates to a wire collecting apparatus and more particularlytit relates to a device adapted to collect wire as it cornes from a temporary storage device along which it is being fed in the form of a continuously travelling horizontal helix.

A very satisfactory method and apparatus for treating wire requires that the wire be continuously formed into the shape of a horizontal helix and then treated while temporarily stored on a horizontal support which permits the lower portions of the coils of the helix to dip into treatment baths. As the helix advances the completely treated individual coils are continuously passing out of the last treating bath and must be removed. In the past the practice has been to permit a certain number of coils to accumulate, for example, the number that can beconveniently lifted by one or two men, and then cut the wire and remove the cut bundle from the end of the storage device. Thus, the collecting is laborious and tedious and requires the full-time services of at least one man. Besides it is limited in the amount of wire that can be collected in one continuous bundle.

More recently, it has been proposed in application Serial No. 541,179, tiled October 18, 1955, now Patent No. 2,863,615, by the present inventor jointly with Herbert Kenmore to collect such wire by providing at the end of the horizontal supports for the helix being treated, a means to change or curve the axis of the helix from a horizontal position to substantially a vertical position and then collecting the helix by gravity feed `onto a cored platform device which is positively rotated at the speed of movement of the wire of the helix. The platform isremovable so that after the desired amount of wire is collected (from 1A to several tons or more) the platform may be removed by mechanical equipment and may be employed as the shipping or carrying device for the bundle of wire.

The present invention involves an improvement on the last mentioned apparatus and is based on the discovery that if the collecting platform is suspended from above through the means of a rotatable or universal joint, the platform will actually be driven by the movement of the wire and neither the driving means therefor nor any regulator for such driving means is required.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of the device of the invention attached at the end of a wire treating machine.

Fig, 2 is an end elevation view, partly in section, of the device of Fig. l.

In the apparatus shown the helix of the wire being treated is supported on a pair of horizontalsupporting rollers 11 and 12 but a single supporting roller or other supporting means may be employed. The supporting means 11 and 12 extend beyond the end of the last treating bath 13. A pair of curved rods 20 and 21 are slidably mounted in a pair of cross bars 23, 24 which are suitably supported on the top portion 14, '15 of the frame structure l of the treating device. At the end of each rod 2.0 or 21,

a block 25 or 26 is adjustably fastened. Each block 25 .2,949,250v Patented 16, 1960 2 or 26 contains two small roller devices 27, 28 rotatably mounted thereon at an angle to each other in such a way that they form an upwardly extending V between the legs of which a coil of the helix 10 is adapted to be held.

In the device shown the bath structure 13 is supported on a number o-f I-beams 16 (only one shown) which extend across a pair of longitudinal I-beams 17. At the very end of the device an angle member 30 extends v across the longitudinal I-beams 17. VSupported from the central portion of angle member 30 is a guide device 41 containing a pair of arms 40, 42 between which the vsn're passes. These guide members 40, 42 hold the lower end of the coil'10-1 away from the collecting device 50 but the guide is not essential Yto the operation of the device.

The collecting device 50, itself, comprises a generally circular platform 51 with a core means comprisin'gthree or more uprights 53, '54, 55 which converge'towads each other at the top portion and meet at 56. VA loop or hook device 57 is formed at the top 56 to provide for machine lifting of Vthe collector device. The circle defined by the three uprights 53, 54 and 55 has a diameter which is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the helix 10 so that a plurality of coils of the helix are formed on each horizontal layer of the platform 51. Three or more casters 58, 59 may also be mounted on the lower portion of the platform 51.

The collecting device 50 is held in suspended position through loop 57 and hook 71 by any suitable mechanism such as a block and tackle device or system of differential pulleys. In the drawing the lower block 70 of such a device is shown. The essential feature of the suspending `device is that it comprise a freely rotatable joint at some point between hook 71 and the means for holding the suspending mass. Such a rotatable joint-may be of very simple construction, asv shown, wherein the hook 71 extends through an opening 74 in frame portion 73 of block 70. The hook 71 contains an enlarged end 75 which retains it in the frame 73 but the opening 74 of said frame is large enough to permit free rotation of the hook 71. Obviously more complex structures may be employed but a simple structure such as illustrated is satisfactory.

A very convenient means for holding the block 70 and its appurtenance is a single rail track (not shown).

The apparatus is especially useful for winding wire over 1/s in diameter. Below this size the Wire does not have suicient weight to rotate the platform.

In operation, the wire helix as it travels off the end of the temporary storage rollers 11, 12 has one or more -coils thereof supported by rollers 27, 28 heldY on curved rods 20, 21 so that the aixs of the helix is curved at an angle of about 45 From the roller supports 27, 28 the wire passes through the guide 40 and thence to the freely rotatable, suspended collecting device 50. During the latter passage the axis of the helix is curved approximately 45 again so that the axis of the wound helix is substantially vertical. The collector device 50 is rotated by the pushing force ofthe wire.

In the horizontal runs of the helix as shown at 16-5, 10-6, 10-7, etc., for example, it is very essential to the operation of therapparatus that no back pressure be applied to the wire.V This is because the wire is being Vfed through the apparatus, the last bath 13 of which is shown, by a pushing force applied back of the point where the wire enters the first bath and by the rotating force applied by positively rotating supporting rollers 11 and 12. Since coils 10-5, 10-6, 10-7, etc. are so far removed from the pushing force it is necessary to avoid Obviously the j apparently the back pressure produced does not extend back to coils 10-5, 10-6 and 10-7 so as to disrupt the operation of the apparatus, This desirable failure of the back pressure from platform 51 to extend back to coils 105, etc. is belived to be due, at least in part, to the fact that coil 10-1 is virtually unsupported and is therefore exerting a pull upon the coil 19-2 above it, which pull counteracts the back pressure of platform 51. It is also true that platform 51 has a relatively high moment of inertia once it has started to rotate.

It will be'seen, therefore, that a small amount of energy which is probably the potential or static energy due to the lowering of the center of gravity of lthe wire `has been utilized according to the invention to eliminate Vthe need for a positive drive and regulating means for the winding apparatus. Y

vThe features and principles underlying the invention described above in connection with speciiic exemplications will suggest to those skilled inthe art many other modifications thereof. It is accordingly desired Vthat the appended claims shall not be limited `to Aany specific feature or details thereof.

I claim:

1. In a device for treating wire while being continuously fed and supported in the form of a rotating helix with a horizontal axis, comprising in combination, a horizontal supporting means for supporting a multiplicity of consecutive coils of a rotating wire helix, and means d ma for collecting the wire as it reaches the end of the horizontal supporting means, said collecting means comprising a positioned collecting device having a core means around which the Wire is wound below the level of the horizontal axis of said helix, means for supporting said collecting device from above so that it is free to rotate on a vertical axis, additional support means positioned between the end of the horizontal supporting means and the axis of the collecting device for movably supporting at least one turn of the wire helix at a lower level than the horzontai supporting means, said additional support means including at least one arm supporting rotating elements adapted to position a top portion of the said helical coil in a position intermediate the horizontal supporting means and the collecting device whereby the wire itself rotates the freely rotatable collecting device.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, including guide means adjacent the lower portion of a wire coil supported at the end of said horizontal supporting means adapted to hold the lower portion of one or more individual coils of the helix which have left the supporting means away from the collecting device.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,220,481 Fritts Nov. 5, 1940 2,863,615 Kenmore et al. Dec. 9, 1958 

